B 
C743C0 
1905 


LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAICN 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

STEWART  S.  HOWE 

JOURNALISM  CLASS  OF  1928 


STEWART  S.  HOWE  FOUNDATION 


B 
C743C0 
1905 


I .H.S. 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

ILLINOIS    PIONEER 
AND     PREACHER 


Volume  II.  of 

"TRUE    AMERICAN  TYPES" 
SERIES 


Augustus  Conant 

ILLINOIS   PIONEER 
AND      PREACHER 

BY 

ROBERT  COLLYER 


BOSTON 

THE     BEACON     PRESS,     Inc 

-25   BEACON  STREET 


Copyright  1905 
The  Beacon  Press,  Inc. 


Abridged  from  "A  Man  in  Earnest  " 
hy  kind  permission  of  the  author 


Published  October  1905 


AUGUSTUS   CONANT 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

IN  a  curious  little  manuscript  vol- 
ume inscribed  "Ebenezer  Conant, 
his  book,  Ashburnham,  Jan.  15, 
1782/'  there  is  this  introductory- 
note  :  "  This  book  was  made  by 
my  dear  father,  Ebenezer  Conant, 
who  died  on  the  3d  of  August, 
1783,"  and  then  these  words  about 
the  Conant  family :  "  I,  John  Co- 
nant,  was  born  in  Ashburnham, 
Mass.,  Feb.  2,  1773.  My  father's 
name  was  Ebenezer  Conant ;  he  was 
born  in  Concord,  Mass.,  Aug.  12, 
1743.  His  father's  name  was  also 
Ebenezer  Conant,  and  he  was  born 
in  Beverly,  Mass.,  Dec.  i,  1700. 
I  I 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

His  father's  name  was  Roger  Conant, 
who  came  to  America  with  a  colony, 
about  1623,  and  settled  near  to 
Marblehead  or  Salem,  and  I  have 
understood  that  he  was  the  son  of 
a  man  who  lived  in  France  when  the 
persecution  raged  there  against  the 
Huguenots  ;  was  a  Huguenot  him- 
self, and  fled  with  one  of  his  brothers, 
of  whom  altogether  there  were  seven, 
to  England,  there  to  enjoy  their 
religion  in  freedom  and  peace." 

The  manuscript  from  which  I 
have  made  this  extract,  seems  to 
have  been  written  jointly  by  Eben- 
ezer  and  John  Conant,  each  contrib- 
uting about  one  hundred  pages  of 
such  matter  as  was  to  him  of  vital 
moment.  The  contributions  of  the 
father   are   theological,   those   of  the 

2 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

son  autobiographical,  and  are  alto- 
gether of  very  little  interest,  except 
as  they  can  throw  a  ray  of  light  into 
the  lives  of  these  Conants  of  past 
generations,  that  may  aid  us  to  see 
better  the  Conant  of  this  sketch. 
The  theological  works  of  the  Grand- 
father Conant  are  : 

1.  "A  Piece  wrote  upon  some 
Jarring  Sentiments  among  my  Breth- 
ren about  Predestination  and  Elec- 
tion." 

2.  "A  Profession  of  Faith." 

3.  "A  Letter  to  Mr.  Lee." 

4.  "  A  Discourse  on  the  Fall  and 
Recovery  of  Man." 

5.  "Thoughts  upon  a  Man's 
Spirit  being  generated  with  his 
Body." 

6.  "  A  Covenant." 

3 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

7.     "  Thoughts    upon    the    New 
Birth." 

It  touches  one  to  read  these  things 
now,  and  to  feel,  as  you  read,  that 
they  must  have  come  out  of  the 
heart  of  a  man  who  was  all  on  fire 
about  them.  Now  they  are  as  dead 
as  the  hand  that  trembled  over  the 
pages  when  they  were  penned.  One 
or  two  things  still  have  a  spark  of 
life  left.  Here  is  a  sentence  from 
the  introduction  to  "  Thoughts  on  a 
Man's  Spirit  being  generated  with 
his  Body  *' :  "  After  a  long  travail  of 
mind  about  what  constitutes  or 
makes  up  the  man,  I  am  now  about 
to  conclude,  or  indeed  have  con- 
cluded, that  I  have  always  been 
entirely  mistaken  about  the  whole 
matter."     But    this    is    almost    the 

4 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

only  thing  in  the  entire  series  of 
treatises  that  seems  to  have  any  life 
left  in  it ;  the  valuable  element  they 
all  hold,  however,  is  the  revelation 
they  make  of  this  Grandfather  Co- 
nant  so  intensely  interested  in  nice 
points  in  theology,  while  he  was  also 
striving  to  raise  a  large  family  on  a 
small  and  poor  farm.  They  were  to 
him  supreme  questions  of  the  life 
and  soul.  How  he  became  so  inter- 
ested, John  Conant,  the  son,  will  tell 
us  presently.  What  Ebenezer,  the 
father,  tells  us  is  that  the  keen,  high- 
questioning,  and  dissenting  spirit 
which  had  made  his  native  France 
too  hot  for  the  old  Huguenot  Co- 
nant was  back  and  busy  again  in  the 
New  England  farmer. 

"The  first   thing    that    I  can   re- 
5 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

member,'*  John  Conant  says,  in  his 
half  of  the  book,  "  was,  when  two 
years  and  a  half  old,  hearing  the 
guns  fire  at  the  Concord  fight ;  then, 
when  I  was  seven  years  old,  came 
the  dark  days  of  May  20,  1780, 
when  the  people  ran  about  in  great 
terror,  believing  that  the  end  of  the 
world  had  come.  I  remember  hold- 
ing on  to  my  mother,  because  I  felt 
sure  I  should  be  more  safe  with  her 
than  I  could  be  with  any  other  per- 
son. Then  I  remember  how  this 
dark  day  brought  a  great  concern  to 
my  soul.  I  reflected  very  seriously 
on  the  awful  condition  I  should  be 
in  if  the  world  should  come  to  an 
end.  In  the  midst  of  these  brood- 
ings,  a  Baptist  preacher  came  to  our 
town.      The    people    mocked    him 

6 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

and  hooted  at  him  ;  but  some,  out 
of  curiosity,  went  to  hear  him. 
Among  others  my  father  and 
mother  went,  and  they  came  home 
pricked  to  the  heart.  Long  before 
this,  on  the  birth  of  their  first  child, 
they  had  joined  the  Congregational 
church  by  what  is  called  the  half- 
way covenant,  so  that  they  might 
have  their  children  sprinkled.  This 
mock  baptism  was  performed  on 
myself  when  I  was  only  eight  days 
old.  Now  they  were  dissatisfied 
with  the  half-way  covenant  religion, 
and  followed  the  Baptist  minister 
no  longer  from  curiosity,  but  to 
obtain    salvation.** 

The  story  of  the  life  of  this  John 
Conant  would  be  well  worth  telling 
for  its  own  sake,  if  there  were  room 

7 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

for  it  in  this  little  book.  The  man 
was  a  noble  specimen  of  that  sturdy, 
capable,  self-contained  nature  only- 
found  in  its  perfection  in  New  Eng- 
land, determined  always  to  get  along 
in  the  world,  to  gather  property  and 
influence,  but  with  a  solemn  religious 
element  woven  through  and  through 
the  business  faculty,  —  the  sort  of  man 
most  faithful,  wherever  he  is  found,  in 
the  support  of  schools,  churches,  and 
public  libraries,  the  controlling  ele- 
ment so  far,  thank  God,  in  our  Amer- 
ican life;  for  what  is  popularly  known 
as  the  Yankee  is  only  the  exception 
to  this  ruling  man,  the  Yankee  being 
only  what  is  left  when  this  religious 
element  has  rotted  away,  —  a  new 
New  England  man  without  a  con- 
science or  a  present  sense  of  God. 

8 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

When  John  Conant  stood  by  the 
death-bed  of  his  father,  he  was  only 
just  turned  ten  years  of  age.  But  he 
says,  "  Being  the  eldest  son,  the  sole 
management  of  our  small  farm,  with 
what  assistance  my  mother  could  ren- 
der, fell  on  my  shoulders ;  so  my 
labors  on  the  farm  were  very  hard  for 
a  boy,  and  so  incessant  that  I  had 
very  little  time  for  books  and  learn- 
ing. What  small  chance  I  had,  how- 
ever, I  improved  to  the  utmost,  learnt 
to  read  and  write,  and  arithmetic  as 
far  as  the  rule  of  three.  These  ad- 
vantages were  all  I  could  ever  com- 
mand when  I  was  a  boy;  but  we 
always  maintained  our  family  wor- 
ship, and  as  my  father  left  a  chest  of 
carpenter^s  tools,  my  natural  talent  led 
me  to  use  them  to  such  advantage  that 

9 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

I  soon  became  skilful  in  joiner's  work. 
I  got  along  so  well  in  this  that  when  I 
was  seventeen,  I  built  for  my  mother 
a  saw-mill,  and  then,  as  I  never  did 
love  farming,  I  began  to  work  as  a 
journeyman  carpenter,  and  so  at 
eighteen  I  found  that  I  could  hold 
my  own  with  the  good  workmen  in 
our  town."  After  this  he  was  pro- 
moted to  be  master  of  the  inside 
work  in  the  new  Bolton  meeting- 
house, but  as  he  found  the  Bolton 
minister  extremely  stupid,  he  walked 
five  miles  every  Sunday  to  hear  a 
man  who  pleased  him  better. 

In  the  fall  of  1794  he  got  married, 
and  then  found  it  was  time  to  be 
looking  round  for  a  larger  place  than 
the  old  homestead  ;  so  he  headed  a 
little  party  of  four,  and  started  for 
10 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

what  was  then  the  wilderness  of 
Western  New  York.  There  they 
bought  land,  cut  a  road  through  fif- 
teen miles  of  brush  to  get  at  it,  did 
not  like  the  place  at  all  when  they 
came  to  see  it,  and  so  went  back 
home.  After  this,  being  on  a  visit 
to  Brandon,  Vermont,  he  saw  the 
Falls  there,  bought  them  on  credit, 
returned  home,  removed  the  family 
at  once,  and  went  to  work  to  build  a 
dam.  The  result  is  In  his  own  words: 
"With  good  health  and  courage,  the 
Lord  hath  so  prospered  me  ever 
since  that  time  that  I  feel  sure  that  I 
did  my  duty." 

Here   in    Brandon    John    Conant 

found  a  feeble  Baptist  church,  which 

he  gathered  into  his  house  when  the 

weather  was  cold,  and  when   it  was 

II 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

warm  into  his  shop;  but  in  1800  he 
wrote :  "  I  myself,  I  say  it  with 
modesty,  being  the  main  man,  with 
eleven  others,  built  a  meeting-house 
forty-feet  by  thirty-five,  and  there  we 
worshipped  thirty-nine  years."  In 
1 801  he  was  made  justice  of  the 
peace;  in  1806,  clerk  to  the  church ; 
in  1809,  he  was  chosen  to  represent 
the  town  in  the  Legislature  ;  in  18 15, 
was  appointed  by  Government  to  as- 
sess the  town  for  a  direct  tax ;  and 
was  a  member  of  that  Electoral  Col- 
lege for  choosing  a  President  which 
resulted  in  the  choice  of  Harrison. 
In  18 1 8  he  was  made  deacon  of  his 
church,  which  office,  he  says,  "  I 
consider  the  most  honorable  and  re- 
sponsible ever  conferred  on  me  by 
mortal  man."  After  this,  he  built  a 
12 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

dwelling-house,  a  stone  mill,  a  semi- 
inary,  some  brick  stores,  and  a  grist- 
mill that  cost  eight  thousand  dollars. 
In  1843,  when  he  was  threescore 
and  ten,  John  Conant  felt  a  great 
longing,  before  he  should  die,  to  see 
the  great  West.  He  had  a  strange 
impression  that  he  should  never  re- 
turn home  alive,  but  that  did  not 
matter ;  he  felt  he  must  go  West. 
And  so  he  made  all  ready,  as  a  man 
going  on  a  way  whence  he  should 
not  return,  commended  himself  to 
God,  and  started  for  Rochester. 
After  a  happy  visit  with  his  children, 
who  were  settled  in  Rochester,  he 
left  for  Buffalo,  thence  by  steam  to 
Cleveland,  thence  to  Cincinnati,  St. 
Louis,  Galena,  Mineral  Point,  Mil- 
waukee, Chicago,  St.  Joseph,  Detroit^ 
13 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

and  then  home  again.  "  So  merci- 
fully was  an  old  man  of  over  seventy- 
preserved  in  all  this  long  and  dan- 
gerous journey." 

This  is  all  that  need  be  said  about 
the  Conant  fore-elders,  but  this  much 
I  have  felt  I  must  say.  Both  Eben- 
nezer  and  John  Conant  reveal  a 
sound  natural  and  spiritual  life. 
They  were  closely  knitted  to  our  life 
as  it  is,  were  full  of  its  deep  sym- 
pathies and  active  duties.  They  did 
their  share  to  plant,  deep  and  strong, 
what  to  them  were  the  very  founda- 
tions of  all  true  prosperity  :  religious 
convictions,  and  religious  institu- 
tions. And  so  Ebenezer  Conant, 
with  his  seven  treatises,  and  John 
Conant,  with  his  endless  religious 
activities,  are  of  the  true  stock  of 
14 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

this  man  whose  Hfe  I  mean  to  write, 
true  spiritual  as  well  as  natural  fore- 
elders. 

Augustus  Hammond  Conant  was 
the  only  son  of  Ebenezer  Conant 
—  son  of  Ebenezer  and  younger 
brother  of  John  —  and  Fanny  Clif- 
ford, his  wife,  and  was  born  in  Bran- 
don, Vermont,  on  the  i6th  of 
October,  1811.  He  went  to  school 
only  as  he  could  be  spared  from  the 
farm  his  father  had  got  in  Brandon ; 
but  he  made  so  good  a  use  of  his 
time  that  as  he  grew  up  he  began  to 
dream  about  a  liberal  education  and 
a  profession.  But  Ebenezer  Co- 
nant, his  father,  thought  there  were 
too  many  professional  men  already  ; 
he  feared,  also,  that  a  course  of  study 
15 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

would  unfit  his  son  for  the  active 
duties  of  life  ;  he  preferred,  also,  that 
Augustus  should  be  a  farmer,  and 
so,  at  last,  it  was  settled  that  a 
farmer  he  should  be. 

When  he  was  about  nineteen,  I 
find  this  bud  of  promise  on  the  tree 
of  his  life:  "July  14,  1830.  I, 
Augustus  Hammond  Conant,  do 
this  day  resolve  to  break  myself  of 
every  evil  practice,  and  to  forsake 
every  sin  as  revealed  to  me  by  the 
light  of  reason.     So  help  me  God  !  '* 

Is  seems  that  a  protracted  meeting 
had  been  held  during  the  previous 
winter  in  a  neighbor's  house ;  that 
the  youth  had  gone  there,  and  been 
touched  by  what  he  heard.  He  was 
stirred  in  this  way  to  take  a  step 
toward  joining  some  church ;  but  he 
16 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

was  dissatisfied  with  Calvinism,  had 
got  a  glimpse  somewhere  of  the  glo- 
rious doctrine  of  universal  salvation, 
and  wanted  to  see  more  of  it.  His 
sister  reports  a  talk  she  had  with 
him  at  this  time,  which  gave  her 
great  uneasiness  as  to  his  orthodoxy. 
But  during  the  next  summer,  de- 
claring openly  his  doubts  about 
eternal  damnation,  he  offered  him- 
self for  membership  to  the  Baptist 
church  in  Pittsford,  of  which  his 
parents  were  members,  and  was  bap- 
tized and  taken  into  full  communion. 
In  the  winter  following  he  taught 
school,  in  the  summer  again  worked 
on  the  farm ;  altogether  his  life  was 
opening  into  a  quiet  and  gracious 
contentment ;  he  grew  in  favor  both 

with  God  and  man. 
2  17 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

The  gold  and  silver  mines  of  the 
far  West  in  those  days  were  the  vir- 
gin prairies  of  Illinois,  to  which  the 
attention  of  the  East  was  just  then 
especially  directed.  It  was  a  weary 
way  from  the  Green  Mountains  to 
the  far  West  before  the  days  of 
railroads ;  but  then  there  was  an  ad- 
venturous tingle  in  the  Conant 
blood.  Had  not  Uncle  John  once 
cut  his  way  through  fifteen  miles  of 
wilderness  ?  And  there  was  money 
in  Ebenezer  Conant*s  locker,  and 
friends  and  kinsfolk  were  scattered 
all  the  way  westward  from  Brandon 
to  Vandalia.  So  to  the  West  young 
Conant  determined  to  go,  that,  at 
least,  he  might  spy  out  the  land.  He 
started  in  September,  1832,  a  month 
before  he  was  twenty-one  years  old. 
18 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

Of  this  journey  the  young  man 
kept  a  brief  journal  that  is  interest- 
ing now  for  the  quick  glances  at  life 
it  has  preserved  along  the  line  of 
travel  westward  seventy  years  ago. 

Starting  from  Whitehall,  in  the 
canal-boat  "  Missanic,"  Conant  went 
by  Fort  Ann  and  Fort  Miller  to 
Saratoga.  He  was  delighted  with 
the  valley  of  the  Mohawk  and  its 
fine  fertile  soil,  but  was  told  that 
most  of  the  farms  were  owned  by 
Dutchmen ;  who  would  not  sell  a 
farm  for  money  enough  to  cover  it. 
Not  a  bad  idea,  one  thinks,  of  the 
Dutchmen  ;  because  a  farm  for  farm- 
ing purposes  should  always  be  con- 
sidered to  be  worth  still  more  to  the 
man  who  has  it  than  to  the  man  who 
wants  it.  At  Schenectady  he  saw, 
19 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

for  the  first  time,  a  railroad,  on  which 
were  two  cars  fastened  together,  and 
carrying  from  twenty  to  thirty  pas- 
sengers, all  drawn  by  one  horse  at  a 
speed  of  a  mile  in  five  minutes, — 
he  was  told.  In  one  week  from  the 
time  he  left  home,  Conant  had  come 
to  Rochester,  and  then  to  Buffalo, 
where  he  found  friends  and  a  fine 
city,  that,  he  was  told,  had  increased 
in  wealth  and  population  beyond  es- 
timate since  the  Grand  Canal  was 
opened. 

From  Buffalo,  on  the  steamboat 
"  Superior,"  he  went  to  Detroit,  and 
among  the  things  which  impressed 
him  on  his  way  there,  he  makes 
special  mention  of  the  greatness  of 
Cleveland  as  a  place  of  business, 
and  he  himself  counted  no  less  than 

20 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

twelve  schooners  there  besides  canal- 
boats.  So  far  the  journey  West  had 
been  an  easy  and  a  pleasant  one; 
walking  or  riding,  as  suited  him  best, 
he  had  encountered  no  hardships  and 
undergone  little  fatigue.  But  from 
Detroit  to  Chicago,  and  thence  to 
the  Mississippi,  Conant  adopted  an- 
other programme  ;  he  determined  to 
foot  it.  "  Starting  on  the  Monday 
from  Detroit,"  he  says,  "  over  the 
worst  roads  I  had  ever  seen,  I  went 
forward  and  westward  on  foot,  and 
came  that  evening,  footsore  and  very 
weary,  to  Saline,  where  I  met  a  party 
of  soldiers  returning  from  the  Indian 
war."  Passing  through  a  thick  for- 
est after  this,  and  being  very  hungry 
and  tired,  he  came  at  last  to  the 
house  of  a  lonely  settler,  where  he 

21 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

rested,  while  the  good  backwoods 
woman  made  him  eat  some  bread 
and  milk  and  honey,  for  which  he 
could  not  prevail  on  her  to  take  any- 
pay.  On  the  Sunday  he  came  to 
White  Pigeon,  where  he  attended 
meeting  all  day.  On  Monday  to 
Niles,  which  he  found  quite  a  vil- 
lage, with  four  stores  and  two  tav- 
erns, and  here  he  rested  three  days, 
built  a  chimney,  and  taught  a  class 
of  four  young  men  stenography,  by 
which  he  more  than  made  expenses. 
Finally,  refreshed,  he  started  again 
westward,  but  being  belated  that 
night,  he  was  lost  in  a  swamp,  where 
he  plunged  about  for  a  long  time, 
until  at  last,  seeing  a  light  at  a 
distance,  he  hallooed  as  loud  as  he 
could,   and    was    rescued    by   a    boy 

22 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

with  a  lantern.  On  the  Sunday  he 
came  to  Lake  Michigan,  and  trav- 
elled thirty-five  miles  on  its  pleasant 
pebbly  beach,  and  so  at  last,  on 
Monday,  the  fifteenth  day  out  from 
Detroit,  he  came  to  Chicago. 

In  the  Chicago  of  1832,  however, 
Conant  found  nothing  worth  his 
notice  except  Fort  Dearborn.  He 
thought  the  town  was  so  situated 
that  it  would  eventually  become  a 
place  of  considerable  importance ; 
but,  resting  only  an  hour  in  Chicago, 
he  started  for  the  Fox  River  coun- 
try. At  the  Dupage  he  found  the 
little  settlement  rapidly  recovering 
from  the  horrors  of  the  Indian  war. 

Near  the  Bureau  River,  he  lost 
his  way,  but  found  it  again  when 
night  came  on  by  the  prairie  fires 
23 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

stretching  for  vast  distances  along 
the  horizon.  Stopping  on  the  Sun- 
day, after  a  walk  of  twenty-five 
miles,  he  went  to  a  Methodist  meet- 
ing, and  there  found  such  confusion 
and  clamor  as  he  had  never  wit- 
nessed before  in  the  name  of  relig- 
ion, in  all  his  life.  At  Ellis's  Mill, 
where  he  stopped  next  day,  after 
walking  only  twenty  miles,  because 
it  was  twenty-five  miles  then  to  the 
next  house,  he  found  that  the  wolves 
in  that  region  were  fearfully  trouble- 
some, destroying  the  sheep  and  hogs 
so  that  it  was  hardly  possible  to 
keep  any.  In  this  wild  country 
Conant  again  lost  his  way,  and  was 
most  of  all  distressed  because  he 
could  not  see  a  single  tree  "  any 
more  than  if  he  had  been  in  the 
24 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

middle  of  the  Atlantic ; "  he  found 
his  way  at  last,  however,  after  much 
wandering  and  some  suffering,  and 
so  came  finally,  without  any  other 
adventure,  to  the  Mississippi,  cross- 
ing which  river  he  landed  at  Keokuk 
Point,  there  to  wait  for  a  steamboat 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  Taking 
a  passage  in  the  "  William  Wallace," 
he  went  down  the  river.  On  the 
steamboat,  the  heart  of  the  whole- 
some, well-bred  Vermont  boy  turned 
sick  at  the  sight  of  slaves,  and  the 
clank  of  their  chains.  Helpless  to 
do  anything  but  fret,  he  could  only 
turn  for  relief  to  the  noble  and 
beautiful  scenery  through  which 
they  were  gliding.  The  beautiful 
islands  covered  with  trees,  and  walled 
thick  with  grape-vines,  dusk  with 
25 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

ripe  fruit  in  the  golden  autumn  sun- 
shine, especially  attracted  him,  and 
made  him  wonder  at  the  fertility  of 
this  new  land.  At  the  mouth  of  the 
Ohio,  he  makes  no  mention  of 
Cairo,  but  speaks  of  the  noble  trees 
there,  —  sycamore,  cottonwood,  elm, 
and  myrtle.  Starting  then  up  the 
Ohio,  and  leaving  the  clank  of  the 
chains,  he  was  still  shocked  by 
the  reckless  gambling  that  was  car- 
ried on  all  day  and  all  night  long. 
Louisville  he  found  wonderful  for 
business,  so  crowded  with  steamboats 
that  it  was  difficult  to  land.  Cincin- 
nati was  a  large  and  beautiful  town, 
with  a  market  reported  to  be  equal 
to  that  of  Philadelphia.  At  Park- 
ersburg,  then  not  much  of  a  place, 
one  of  the  firemen  on  the  boat  was 
26 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

seized  on  the  suspicion  of  his  being 
a  slave,  but  he  had  his  papers  with 
him,  though  it  was  believed  on  the 
boat  that  they  would  not  have  saved 
him  from  being  sold  down  the  river, 
had  not  the  captain  gone  with  him 
before  the  magistrate  and  pulled  him 
through.  At  this  the  young  Ver- 
monter  cries  out  in  his  diary,  "  I 
would  not  exchange  the  cold,  rough 
hills  of  Vermont,  uncontaminated  as 
they  are  with  the  breath  of  slavery, 
for  the  finest  country  ever  cultivated 
by  the  slave/* 

From  Pittsburg,  the  wonder  of  all 
that  his  eyes  had  ever  seen  since  he 
left  home  for  elegance,  grandeur,  and 
business,  he  took  the  stage  to  Erie 
and  found  when  he  got  there  that 
the  steamboat  he  had  meant  to  take 
27 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

had  left;  so  he  started  on  foot  for 
Buffalo,  forcing  his  way  through 
great  storms  of  rain  and  snow.  And 
so  on  at  last,  very  thankful  in  his 
heart,  he  came  to  his  home  among 
the  cold,  rough  hills  of  Vermont, 
where  such  welcome  waited  the  wan- 
derer as  we  may  guess,  but  are  not 
told. 

New  England  is  a  dear  good  place 
to  be  born  in,  a  noble  nursery  of 
men,  and  her  true  sons  can  never 
forget  their  true  mother;  but  the 
family  was  large,  and  the  old  home- 
stead was  limited,  and  so  it  came  to 
pass  at  last  that  Eben  Conant,  with 
all  his  household,  determined  to 
move  on  in  the  track  of  the  sun. 
The  young  man's  report  of  the  good 
28 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

land  in  Illinois  had  created  a  family 
revolution. 

The  right  spot  was  found  on 
the  Desplaine  River  about  twenty- 
miles  northwest  of  Chicago.  The 
country  there  is  low  and  flat,  but 
very  fertile  and  easy  to  farm.  The 
land  then  was  just  as  the  Indians  had 
left  it,  and  was  not  even  surveyed ; 
but  there  was  plenty  of  wood  on  it, 
and  wild  game  and  fish.  A  rising 
city  lay  within  a  day's  journey,  ready 
to  take  everything  that  could  be 
raised,  and  pay  cash  for  it,  and  to 
supply  everything  that  was  needed 
in  return ;  and  altogether  the  under- 
taking was  full  of  encouragement  to 
a  prudent  and  enterprising  man. 

Augustus  Conant,  who  went  at 
once  on  land  of  his  own,  kept  a 
29 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

journal  of  his  career  as  a  frontier 
farmer,  from  the  first  of  January, 
1836,  to  the  middle  of  May,  1840. 
It  is  a  brief  and  terse  record  of  what 
was  done,  as  real  in  its  own  way 
as  the  work  he  was  doing,  and  as 
simple  and  modest  as  the  man.  He 
seldom  spares  more  than  one  line 
for  one  day,  and  sometimes  writes 
that  in  shorthand ;  never  makes  a 
reflection,  or  chronicles  a  mood ;  says 
a  good  deal  about  the  weather,  but 
it  is  mainly  about  clear  and  sunny 
weather,  —  a  delicate  intimation,  one 
cannot  but  feel,  of  the  weather  that 
then  and  always  prevailed  in  the 
man's  own  soul.  Beyond  this  turn 
for  seeing  in  almost  every  day  a  sun 
day,  however,  nothing  can  be  more 
constant  and  true  to  the  hard,  bare 
30 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

facts  of  the  frontier  life  than  this 
journal ;  yet  as  you  read  on  line  by 
line,  the  index  at  last  opens  the  book 
of  his  life  to  you,  and  you  are  aware 
of  a  certain  power  and  pathos  in  the 
brief,  downright  chronicles  that  are 
not  often  found  in  more  leisurely 
and  scholarly  journalizing.  Still  it 
would  not  be  well  to  print  the  record 
line  by  line  as  it  stands  in  this  little 
book.  Most  of  it  could  have  no 
interest  to  the  reader  now.  And 
so,  taking  the  first  dozen  entries  just 
as  they  stand,  as  a  specimen  of  the 
whole,  I  will  then  make  such  extracts 
as  I  hope  will  preserve  the  essential 
spirit  of  the  entire  work. 

"1836,  Jan,  I.     Attended  to  the 
survey  of  my  claim. 

"  2.     Drew  rails. 
31 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

"3.     Sunday.     Wrote  poetry. 

"  4.     Made  shelves  and  split  rails. 

"  5.  Went  to  Chicago  with  a  load 
of  potatoes. 

"  6.  Sold  my  potatoes  for  seventy- 
five  cents  a  bushel. 

"  7.  Cut  apples,  worked  at  my 
house,  husked   corn. 

"  8.  Attended  a  meeting  of  set- 
tlers for  securing  to  each  man  his 
present  claim. 

"  9.    Cut  rail   timber. 

10.  Sunday.    Went  to  Chicago. 

11.  Commenced  thrashing. 

12.  Still   thrashing." 

This  is  the  literal  side  of  the  young 
man's  daily  prayer  for  daily  bread, 
the  common  level  God  had  ordained 
he  should  keep,  with  now  and  then  a 
glimpse  into  deeper  and  higher  things, 
32 


cc 


cc 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

that  he  tries  at  first  to  turn  into  "  a 
song,"  but  at  last  into  "a  sermon." 

With  the  spring  came  more  im- 
portant  enterprises. 

"•^  May  lo.  Mrs.  Hoard  and  Betsy 
Kelsey  arrived. 

"ii.  Planted  corn  and  prepared 
for  the  wedding. 

"i2.  Married  Betsy  Kelsey. 
Weather  very  fine  and  sunny. 

^^  June  3.  Made  a  table,  and 
borrowed  six  bushels  of  potatoes,  to 
be  paid  back  with  interest  in  the  fall. 

"  4.    Wife  eighteen  to-day.     Made 
a  few  articles  of  furniture. 
"Read  'Paley's   Natural   The- 
ology.^ 

"  Meeting  at  my   house.     Mr. 

Kent  preached   again. 

"  Made  a  churn. 

3  ZZ 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

^^  Sept,    28.     Heard     big    wolves 
howling. 

"  Hunted  deer. 

"  Worked  at  shoemaking. 

"  Made  a  coffin  for  H.  Dough- 
erty. 

"  Plastered  my  house. 

"  Dressed  pig  and  calves  torn 

by  wolves.      Dug  a  well. 

"  Killed  a  wolf. 

"  Corn  half  destroyed  by  black- 
birds. 

"  Set    out    shade-trees.      Read 

Cowper. 

"  Took  up  a  bee  tree  to  hive 

for  honey. 

"Hunted  deer.      Snow  a  foot 

deep. 

"  Hunted  a  panther.     Went  to 

a  bridge-raising. 

34 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

"  1838,  Feb.  18.  Meeting  at  my 
house.     I  read  a  sermon. 

"  Began  to  read  the  '  Western 

Messenger.'     Made  a  back  kitchen. 

"  Hewed  timber  for  a  barn. 

"  Made  a  wagon. 

"  Made  a  cheese-press. 

"Unwell, and  so  studied  algebra. 

"  Made  a  sun-dial. 

''Sept.  16.  Went  to  Miller's  to 
read  Channing.  Read  at  the  meet- 
ing Channing  on  '  Self-denial.' 

"  Unwell,  so  wrote  temperance 

address. 

"  Temperance    meeting  ;   deliv- 
ered my  address. 

"  Read  '  Statement  of  Reasons.* 

Circulated   subscription-paper    for    a 
school.     Mended  boots. 

"  1839,  Jan.  19.     Sat  on  jury. 
35 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 


"  Began    to    distribute     tracts. 


Helped  to  make  a  post-office. 

"  May  1 2.  Read  *  Bancroft's  Ser- 
mons.' 

"  June  29.  Agreed  to  deliver  an 
oration. 

"  July  4th.     Delivered  my  oration. 

"  J^b  7th.  Attended  meeting  in 
Chicago,  and  became  acquainted  with 
Mr.  Hosmer,  Mrs.  Clarke,  and 
Mrs.   Gale. 

"13.  Got  my  oration  published, 
and  paid  for. 

"  14.  Attended  Mr.  Hosmer's 
meeting  again. 

"  Oct.  20.    Wrote  a  sermon  from 
Matt.  vi.  9,  27. 
"  Wrote  another  sermon. 

"  1 840,  Jan,  4th.  Preached  at 
McHenry. 

36 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

^^  Feb.  I.    Wrote  a  funeral  sermon. 
"25.     Preached  at  Geneva. 

—  "  Read  Norton  on  the  Trinity. 

—  "  Made  soap.     Boiled  sugar. 

—  "  Wrote  a  sermon  on  the  Aim 


of  Life. 

"  April  5.     Preached  at  Geneva. 

^^  May  25.  Started  for  New  Eng- 
land, to  attend  the  Divinity  School 
in  Cambridge." 

These  extracts  need  no  comment ; 
they  speak  for  themselves.  I  have 
printed  them  as  they  stand  in  the 
journal,  because  it  seems  most  natural 
to  let  the  words  tell  their  own  tale  in 
their  own  way.  There  are  only 
brief  hints  of  the  struggles  through 
which  he  had  to  pass,  before  it  be- 
came clear  to  himself  and  those 
37 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

most  interested  in  his  movements 
that  he  must  give  up  every  plan  he 
had  projected  so  far  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  to  be  a  farmer,  and  give 
up  the  farm  itself,  with  its  cherished 
independence,  because  he  was  "  sepa- 
rated into  the  gospel  of  God." 

Two  things  besides  the  tendency 
in  his  own  nature  and  what  naturally 
came  of  it,  such  as  going  to  Miller's 
to  read  Channing,  "  quickened  this 
movement."  The  Fourth  of  July 
oration  delivered  to  his  own  friends 
and  neighbors  on  the  Desplaine 
turned  out  to  be  more  than  his 
hearers  had  expected.  Instead  of 
reciting  the  comfortable  old  doctrine 
common  to  the  occasion,  that  there 
was  no  such  freedom,  or  virtue,  or 
valor  as  ours  on  the  earth,  the  young 
38 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

man  got  a  hard  grip  on  slavery,  held 
it  up  in  the  face  of  the  July  sun, 
just  as  it  was,  went  on  to  show  that 
such  a  virtue  as  that  was  filthy  rags, 
and  that  the  only  valor  worth  the 
name  was  that  which  dared  say  so, 
and  take  open  ground  against  the 
old  rank  lie.  The  consequence  came 
instantly.  Conant  was  denounced, 
reviled,  and  invited  to  eat  his  words. 
Instead  of  doing  that,  he  went  to 
Chicago,  and  got  the  oration  printed 
at  his  own  expense,  sent  it  flying 
broadcast  over  the  settlement,  and 
so  became  known  at  once  as  one  of 
the  champions  for  freedom  in  that 
part  of  the  country.  But  before 
this,  as  the  journal  tells  us,  he  had 
made  the  acquaintance  of  Mrs. 
Clarke,  the  mother  of  Rev.  James 
39 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

Freeman  Clarke.      Of  this  meeting 
Mrs.  Clarke  wrote  :  — 

"  I  remember  Mr.  Conant,  how  he 
came  into  my  son's  store  (in  Chicago) 
to  make  some  purchases,  and  while 
standing  at  the  counter  took  up  the 
'  Western  Messenger/  was  so  inter- 
ested in  it  that  he  forgot  everything 
besides  until  he  had  read  it  through, 
and  then  asked  my  son  to  lend  him 
all  that  he  could  spare  to  take  home. 
After  this,  when  Dr.  Hosmer  came 
up  from  Buffalo  to  preach  for  us,  Mr. 
Conant  came  in  to  hear  him.  I  saw 
his  face  as  I  went  in  to  meeting,  and 
it  seemed  illuminated  with  the  feel- 
ings that  filled  his  heart ;  I  intro- 
duced him  to  the  preacher  after 
service,  and  the  result  was  that  Dr. 
Hosmer  advised  him  to  go  East  and 
40 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

study  for  the  ministry ;  offered  to 
write  to  Dr.  Ware  about  receiving 
him,  and  to  the  Unitarian  Association 
to  help  him.  '  No/  said  the  young 
man,  *  I  thank  you,  but  I  had  rather 
not  begin  by  begging.  I  will  sell  my 
crops,  take  orders  for  payment  on 
Vermont,  and  then  take  my  wife 
and  two  children  to  live  there  with 
their  folks,  while  I  am  studying  in 
Cambridge.' 

"  From  that  time  he  began  to  pre- 
pare for  his  new  life,  rose  very  early 
every  morning  and  studied  till  it  was 
time  to  begin  work  on  his  farm,  and 
whenever,  besides,  he  could  get  a 
spare  moment,  and  then  in  the  spring 
he  sold  his  crops,  and  started  with 
his  family  for  Vermont.  But  when 
he  arrived  there,  he  could  not  get  his 
41 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

checks  cashed,  and  so  feared  that, 
after  all,  he  would  be  compelled  to 
give  up  his  plan.  He  wrote  me 
about  his  trouble,  and  that  he  was 
determined  to  go  to  Cambridge,  see 
Dr.  Ware,  and  lay  the  matter  before 
him.  He  lost  his  way  in  going,  and 
began  to  feel  that  it  could  not  be  the 
divine  intention  he  should  study  for 
the  ministry.  He  arrived  at  last, 
however,  and  began  to  tell  the  Doc- 
tor why  it  was  now  impossible  he 
should  come  to  school,  as  he  had  no 
money  ;  but  the  Doctor  said,  ^  I  have 
a  letter  for  you,  perhaps  that  may 
help  you.'  On  opening  the  letter,  it 
was  found  to  contain  an  enclosure  of 
fifty  dollars  from  a  gentleman  who 
had  heard  of  Mr.  Conant's  efforts  to 
get  an  education,  together  with  the 
42 


AUGUSTUS     CON ANT 

assurance  that  more  should  be  forth- 
coming if  needed,  and  thus  the  way 
opened  at  once  to  his  entrance  on 
the  course  of  study." 

*'i840j  June  2^.  Commenced 
study  under  the  direction  of  Prof 
Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  and  took  room 
No.  40,  Divinity  Hall.  Attended 
Ware's  evening  discussion. 

"  July  4.  Attended  the  celebration 
in  Boston,  and  visited  Bunker  Hill. 

"  Sunday,  Aug.  9.  United  with  Mr. 
Gray's  church  in  Buliinch  Street. 

^^  Dec.  7.  Received  for  sawing 
wood  three  dollars. 

"  1 84 1 5  May  19.  Read  a  report 
before  the  Philanthropic  Society  of 
the  Divinity  School  on  Western 
Missions. 

43 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

"  June  8.  Was  approved  by  the 
Cambridge  Association  as  a  minister 
of  the  gospel. 

"  June  27.  Received  ordination 
as  an  evangelist  in   Boston. 

"  From  H.  J.  Huidekoper  fifty- 
dollars  to  purchase  books,  and  from 
the  Divinity  School  the  works  of 
Dugald  Stewart. 

"  June  29.     Left  Cambridge. 

'^  July  22'     Reached  Chicago." 

This  is  the  entire  journal  of  the 
year  at  Cambridge  as  a  student. 
Other  notices  of  the  time  are  not  nu- 
merous, for  a  great  body  of  closely- 
written  notes  of  lectures  and  other 
college  work  of  that  sort  still  re- 
maining must  have  taken  up  what- 
ever spare  time  he  had  to  spare  after 
44 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

the  direct  book-work  for  the  day  was 
done.  Indeed,  this  appears  from  the 
few  letters  that  still  exist  of  this  year. 
Informing  his  wife,  to  whom  of  course 
the  first  is  written,  that  he  had  pro- 
cured paper  of  the  very  largest  size, 
so  that  he  might  be  able  to  write  a 
great  deal  for  one  postage,  he  writes 
his  letter  over  and  across,  close  and 
compacted,  in  about  a  week  from  the 
time  he  begins  with  "  Dearest,'*  tell- 
ing here  and  there,  as  he  goes  on, 
how  tired  he  is  to-night,  or  how  late 
it  is ;  but  then  how  writing  a  bit 
more  will  refresh  him  better  than  his 
sleep. 

It  is   evident  that  the  year  alto- 
gether was  one  of  the  very  pleasant- 
est  in  his  whole  life.      It  introduced 
the  young  farmer  to  a  new  world. 
45 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

The  society  about  him  was  full  of 
power  to  help  him.  He  rushed  to 
hear  the  great  preachers  of  the  era; 
and  tells  how  "  To-day  I  heard  Mr. 
Putnam ;  he  preached  one  of  the 
very  best  sermons  I  ever  heard  in  my 
life."  Then  again,  "  I  have  been  to 
hear  Dr.  Beecher ;  there  must  have 
been  a  thousand  people  present.  I 
could  agree  heartily  with  the  most  of 
what  he  said ;  he  is  rather  a  hard- 
featured  old  fellow,  '  awful  powerful/ 
as  the  Hoosiers  say,  and  I  thought 
if  his  pulpit  cushions  are  not  well 
stuffed,  I  should  not  like  to  lend 
him  my  fists  to  preach  with." 

And  then  he  would  not  be  a  mere 
listener,  but  together  with  a  fellow- 
student  went  to  the  House  of  Cor- 
rection and  prayed  and  labored  with 
46 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

the  inmates  whenev^er  there  was 
opportunity ;  prepared  and  read  his 
address  on  Western  Missions ;  gave 
addresses  on  Temperance  here  and 
there,  and  got  some  chances  to 
preach  besides  in  the  churches. 

But  it  was  hard  work  all  through. 
"If  Professor  Ware  did  not  encour- 
age me  to  believe  that  I  am  doing 
very  well,"  he  writes,  "  I  should  be 
ready  to  give  up  in  despair.  It  is  so 
hard  to  teach  an  old  dog  new  tricks." 
But,  as  we  have  seen  by  the  journal, 
the  year  came  to  an  end  at  last. 
The  masters  were  satisfied  and  the 
longing  of  his  soul  was  fulfilled  in 
his  ordination  to  the  work  of  an 
evangelist. 

The  centre  of  the  work  Conant 
was  destined  to  do  in  the  West  was 
47 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

the  then  very  small  settlement  of 
Geneva,  on  the  Fox  River.  He 
went  there  to  preach  in  1839  while 
still  a  farmer.  The  friends  who 
heard  him  still  remember  his  first 
appearance ;  they  supposed  he  was  a 
new  settler  come  in  to  borrow  a  few 
bushels  of  corn,  or  to  make  a  trade. 
It  was  a  welcome  surprise  to  find 
that  he  had  come  not  to  get  bread 
from  them,  but  to  bring  them  the 
bread  of  life. 

He  was  quaintly  dressed,  they  say, 
and  did  not  promise  much  at  the 
first  glance,  but  when  he  had  once 
preached  to  them,  they  felt  it  was 
all  right,  recognized  the  fine  soul 
under  the  queer  garb,  made  him  wel- 
come with  all  their  hearts,  and  in- 
vited him  to  come  again ;  and  so, 
48 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

when  he  came  back  from  Cambridge, 
it  was  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 
world  that  he  should  be  their  minis- 
ter and  settle  among  them  for  good. 
It  was  at  once  the  need  of  the  place 
and  the  wish  of  the  man,  however, 
that  he  should  come  as  a  missionary, 
not  to  Geneva  only,  but  to  the  whole 
country  round  about ;  that  was  what 
he  wanted  to  do,  what  his  heart 
bounded  at,  for  it  was  his  meat  and 
drink,  and  psalm  and  prayer,  and 
faith  and  hope,  that  he  might  go 
far  and  wide,  bearing  the  gospel  of 
peace. 

Still,  in  Geneva,  where  the  work 
was  to  find  its  natural  centre,  there 
was  hesitation,  difficulty,  and  doubt. 
Conant  began  to  preach  there  on 
the  1st  of  August,  1841,  but  on 
4  49 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

the  8th  of  May,  1842,  he  writes, 
"  We  had  our  first  meeting  to-day 
on  the  subject  of  forming  a  religious 
society  in  Geneva,  but  there  was  a 
doubt  as  to  whether  the  right  time 
had  come  to  begin,  and  a  declaration 
of  principles  that  had  been  circulated 
and  signed  by  twenty  persons  was 
reserved  for  further  consideration." 
A  month  after  this,  however,  the 
new  society  was  organized  as  the  first 
Christian  society  of  Geneva.  Then 
it  soon  began  to  be  clear  that  they 
must  have  a  meeting-house.  The 
school-house  in  which  they  met  was 
a  very  poor  place,  not  easy  to  come 
at,  not  easy  to  warm  in  winter,  and 
to  meet  there  was  like  flying  with  a 
broken  wing ;  the  church  was  built 
in  the  hearts  of  the  little  band  of 
50 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

worshippers  first,  and  then  the  stone 
and  lime  and  lumber  followed,  as  the 
effect  a  cause. 

Conant  left  journals  of  these  years 
in  great  profusion.  They  are  far 
too  ample  to  be  printed  in  this  small 
volume,  but  I  will  give  such  parts  of 
them  as  tell  his  story,  better  than  I 
could  tell  it,  only  drawing  the  lines 
he  himself  has  drawn,  by  giving  first, 
from  one  journal,  what  will  show 
how  his  YifQ  went  on  in  Geneva, 
while  he  held,  as  it  were,  the  pio- 
neer's axe  in  one  hand  and  the  Bible 
in  the  other,  doing  a  man's  work  with 
both  ;  and  then  later  some  account 
of  his  work  as  a  missionary  :  — 

"  1842,  Jan.  7.  Removed  to  Gen- 
eva. Wrote  a  sermon,  and  made  a 
door. 

51 


uNivERsrn  OF 

ILUNOIS  LIBRARY 
IVT  URBANA  CHAMPWGN 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 


"  Repaired  our  room.    Worked 


at  a  sermon.      Doctored    sore  eyes. 

"  Raised  the  house  frame. 

"  Cut  and  drew  ice,  and  made 

curtain  rods. 

"  Made  a  plan  of  a  sermon  on 

the  prodigal  son,  a  pair  of  quilting 
frames,  and  an  argument  at  the  Ly- 
ceum against  capital  punishment. 

"  Read      Neander.      Made     a 

chair. 

"  Worked  on  a  sermon.     Made 

a  partition  for  the  stable. 

"  Worked    on    a    sermon,   and 

drew  wood.      Snow  two  feet  deep. 

"  Commenced    a    sermon,    and 

worked  in  the  woods. 

"  Doctored    sick     horse.      Cut 

wood. 

"  Read  Neander.     Horse  died. 

52 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

— "  Read     Neander.      Mended    a 


pump. 

"Wrote    on    a    sermon,    read 

Neander,  and  made  a  wheelbarrow. 

"Began      a     sermon.     Planted 

potatoes. 

"  Wrote    a  sermon  on   Episco- 
pacy.     Built  an  ice-house. 
"Read    the    Methodist    Disci- 
pline.    Helped  my  wife  to  wash. 

"  Planted    potatoes.     Wrote    a 

sermon  on   Unitarianism. 

"  Worked  on  a  sermon. 

"  Made  benches  for  the  school. 

"  Finished     sermon,    and    hay- 
ing. 

*'  Set  out  plum-trees.     Planned 

a  sermon. 

"  Made  a  gravel  walk.     Wrote 

at  a  sermon. 

53 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

—  "  Papered  my  study. 

—  "  Wrote  at  a  sermon. 

—  "  Planted  seventy  peach-trees. 

—  "  Finished  sermon.    Made  soap. 

—  "  Wrote  at  a  sermon. 

—  "  Made  window-frames  for  Rich- 


ard Moore. 

"  Planted    onions.      Planned    a 

sermon. 

"  Made  a  bedstead  for  the  cob- 
bler. 

"  1 849,  iVbi;.  12.  Went  to  Elgin 
with  father,  to  build  a  cupola  for  the 
church. 

"  22.     Worked  at  cupola. 

23.  Raised  cupola. 

24.  Hung  the  bell. 

25.  Preached  in  the  church. 

"  26.  Finished  the  cupola,  and 
went    home. 

54 


cc 


cc 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 


"  Wrote  a  sermon.     Repaired  a 


wagon. 

"Read  Milman.     Planted  rasp- 
berries. 

"Wrote    a   sermon.     Plastered 

the  cellar-floor. 

"  Read     Macaulay.    Made  can- 
dles. 

"1850,  Sept.    12.     Railroad    train 
came  into  Geneva  for  the  first  time." 

This  is  the  plan  of  what  may  be 
called  the  journal  of  a  working  man. 
The  record  stretches  from  Jan.  i, 
1842,  to  Dec.  6,  1853,  and  then 
ends.  There  would  be  no  additional 
interest  in  printing  the  whole ;  what 
is  given  here  is  a  fair  sample,  and  is 
far  too  characteristic  of  the  man  to 
be  omitted ;  and  I  think  we  cannot 
55 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

afford  to  lose  this  revelation  of  the 
way  in  which  all  things  worked  to- 
gether about  the  little  parsonage 
when  the  parson  could  be  at  his 
post.  Soap  and  sermons,  the  Meth- 
odist Discipline  and  washing-day, 
Episcopacy  and  an  ice-house,  Mac- 
aulay  and  candles,  Neander  and  a 
wheelbarrow,  the  study  and  the 
stable,  a  course  of  lectures  on  the 
sects  and  a  bedstead  for  the  lame 
cobbler,  —  a  journal  like  this  is  only 
possible  of  the  life  of  a  man  as  hon- 
est as  he  was,  and  in  earnest,  living 
on  the  frontier,  and  capable  of  turn- 
ing his  hand  to  anything.  There 
are,  of  course,  many  days  in  which 
the  work  done  is  altogether  secular, 
when  the  man  is  out  of  doors  ham.- 
mering  away  at  something  from  day- 
56 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

light  till  dark.  Then  he  is  whole 
days  in  the  study  with  his  books  and 
at  his  desk.  Now  he  is  in  the  fields 
and  woods,  and  then  in  the  garden 
and  the  workshop.  But  what  the 
journal  never  yields  in  these  twelve 
years  is  a  single  line  to  tell  of  a  sin- 
gle moment  devoted  to  dismal  spec- 
ulations about  the  universe,  or  to 
grumbling  because  things  did  not 
go  as  well  as  the  writer  expected. 
There  is  no  sign  of  a  blue  Monday, 
or  a  feverish  Saturday.  I  sit  with 
this  journal  of  days'  works  before 
me,  written  with  the  most  abomin- 
able ink  (home  made,  I  guess),  and 
there  still  seems  to  be  a  voice  crying 
out  of  the  homely  old  book  to  the 
recording  angel,  "  Write,  for  these 
things  are  faithful  and  true."  They 
57 


AUGUSTUS    CON A NT 

are  better  than  the  writer  ever  seems 
to  guess  ;  the  hand  that  is  writing  is 
only  half  conscious  of  what  it  writes 
about ;  the  right  hand  does  not 
know  what  the  left  hand  doeth. 

The  field  stretching  away  from 
Geneva  was  ample  enough  for  a  host 
of  missionaries,  who  should  have  no 
other  work  to  do  but  go  out  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature. 
How  he  did  go  out,  and  what  came 
of  his  apostolic  journeys,  his  journal 
must  again  inform  us,  but  only  by 
its  essence  and  spirit,  by  the  extract, 
if  it  can  be  made,  of  his  whole  mis- 
sionary life.  It  was  a  threefold  cord 
which  cannot  be  broken,  but  as  the 
strands  of  it  are  so  different  in  their 
nature,  I  have  thought  it  would  be 
most  instructive  to  look  at  each 
58 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

strand  separately,  point  out  its 
quality,  and  then  let  the  whole 
strong  cable  by  which  this  man  was 
so  fastened  to  his  fellow-men,  and  to 
God,  abide  in  its  simple  and  beauti- 
ful perfection. 

"1841,  Sept.  5.  Commenced 
preaching  in  Geneva  on  my  return 
from  Cambridge.  From  the  20th  to 
the  28th  made  a  journey  to  the 
North-West,  preaching  at  Rockford, 
Oregon  City,  and  Belvidere. 

"  Oct.  14.  Went  to  Joliet,  preached 
four  sermons,  and  visited  the  people. 

^^  Nov.  10.  Preached  at  Black- 
berry. Met  some  "Christian" 
preachers  there,  and  arranged  with 
them  to  unite  our  labors. 

''Nov.  14.  Went  to  Joliet,  but 
met  with  only  poor  encouragement. 

59 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

^^  Nov.  21.  Preached  at  Black- 
berry, where  I  baptized  my  wife  and 
Fayette  Churchill. 

"  Dec.  24  to  the  end  of  the  year. 
Went  into  Wisconsin  Territory, 
preaching  at  Burlington,  Spring 
Prairie,  Gardiner's  Prairie,  Roches- 
ter, and  Montalana. 

"  1842,  Jan.  3.  Attended  Quar- 
terly Conference  at  Montalana. 

"  16.     Preached  at  Rock  Creek. 

"  30.  Preached  at  B  a  t  a  v  i  a. 
Found  great  prejudice  about  us 
there. 

"  Feb.  26.  Preached  at  St. 
Charles  in  the  new  Universalist 
meeting-house    to   a  good   audience. 

"  April 2^.  Attended  Christian  Con- 
ference at  Rhillbuck  Creek. 

"  10.    Preached  at  Sugar  Grove. 
60 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

"  14  /^  20.  Went  into  Wisconsin, 
preaching  as  I  found  opportunity. 

^^ Aug.  I.  One  year  since  I  re- 
turned from  Cambridge.  During  the 
year  I  find  I  have  travelled  as  a  mis- 
sionary 1,844  miles,  distributed  150 
volumes  of  books  and  1,000  tracts. 

"  1843,  Jan.  17.  Lectured  at 
Naperville  on  the  Evidences  of 
Christianity,  and  the  Causes  of 
Modern  Unbelief. 

"  March  i .  Lectured  at  Batavia 
on  the  Trinity. 

'-''Mar.  28  to  April  5.  Went  into 
Wisconsin,  preaching  in  Burlington, 
then  in  McHenry.  Found  great 
interest  in  our  ideas." 

So  runs  the  record  of  his  mission- 
ary life  to  the  end.     From  about  this 
61 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

time  to  June,  1845,  ^^  went  regularly 
to  Belvidere,  and  made  that  a  second 
parish,  but  at  last  found  that  the  dis- 
tance was  too  great  to  permit  him  to 
go  on  with  his  pastorship  there,  so 
that  the  work  had  to  be  taken  up  by 
another  man.  Then  he  preached 
regularly  in  Elgin  for  a  long  while, 
making  that  a  second  parish,  —  going 
also  to  Joliet,  Belvidere,  and  many 
other  places  with  his  word  of  life  and 
tracts  and  books. 

On  the  19th  of  January,  1843,  ^^ 
was  able  to  open  his  new  meeting- 
house in  Elgin,  toward  which  he  had 
given  two  hundred  dollars  of  the 
money  raised  in  New  England,  when 
he  was  there,  and  Elgin  rose  to  the 
dignity  of  providing  him  a  ^^ regular'* 
salary  of  from  one  hundred  and 
62 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

twenty-five  dollars  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  per  annum  for  one 
service  each  Sunday.  In  the  June 
of  this  year  he  was  in  Indiana, 
preaching  and  distributing  books 
without  stint.  At  Cole  Creek  in 
this  journey  he  met  a  Christian 
elder,  James  McKinney,  who  told 
him  that  he  had  the  highest  salary 
of  any  man  of  their  denomination 
about  there;  for  whereas  the  rest  did 
not  average  more  than  twenty-five 
dollars  a  year,  he  had  twenty-nine 
dollars  and  thirty-nine  cents. 

But  soon  after  this  our  young 
apostle  began  to  feel  that  there  was  a 
limit  even  to  his  endurance.  Out  in 
all  weathers  where  as  yet  railroads 
were  below  the  Eastern  horizon,  tak- 
ing the  pot-luck  of  the  frontiers  as  to 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

his  food,  and  his  chance  as  to  sleeping 
whenever  he  wandered  away  from 
the  cosey  parsonage  in  Geneva,  with 
all  the  work  of  heart  and  brain  which 
he  had  to  do,  and  with  a  constant 
anxiety  about  some  of  his  missionary 
stations  —  all  this  at  last  broke  him 
down,  so  that  for  a  while  he  could 
only  attend  to  his  two  widely  sep- 
arated parishes  of  Geneva  and  Elgin. 

I  will  not  interfere  with  Conant's 
own  account  of  the  termination  of 
his  ministry  as  it  is  written  in  his 
journal. 

^^  June  20,  1857.  I  have  passed 
through  many  trials  as  a  Christian 
minister,  some  of  the  severest  grow- 
ing out  of  my  preaching  against 
slavery  in  opposition  to  the  preju- 
dices and  wishes  of  a  portion  of  the 
64 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

society.  The  disafFection  has  been 
so  great  that  the  congregation  has 
been  considerably  diminished,  and 
my  hopes  of  usefulness  in  Geneva 
greatly  reduced.  Old  and  leading 
members  of  the  society  have  ex- 
pressed so  much  dislike  to  anti-slav- 
ery preaching,  and  I  became  so  much 
disheartened,  that  some  three  months 
ago  I  promised  them  if  the  condi- 
tion of  this  society  did  not  assume 
a  more  favorable  aspect  in  six  months, 
I  would  resign  my  pulpit. 

"On  the  loth  instant  I  received, 
quite  unexpectedly,  a  unanimous  call 
to  become  pastor  of  the  Unitarian 
society  in  Rockford,  and  have  ac- 
cepted the  same,  and  expect  to  close 
my  connection  with  this  society  the 
first  Sunday  in  July.  For  sixteen 
5  6s 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

years,  wanting  three  Sabbaths,  I  have 
been  preaching  in  Geneva,  and  have 
formed  many  tender  ties.  But  it 
seems  to  me  now  a  clear  case  of  duty 
to  leave  them,  and  most  fervently 
do  I  commend  them  to  the  favor 
of  God." 

So,  on  Sunday  the  i2th  July,  1857, 
Conant,  going  to  Rockford,  preached 
there  his  first  sermon  as  pastor  of  the 
church  to  a  congregation  of  about 
seventy.  And  the  prospects  of  the 
society  opened  well  ;  in  possession 
of  a  beautiful  place  for  worship,  with 
members  in  the  church  not  to  be  sur- 
passed by  any,  within  the  knowledge 
of  the  writer,  in  any  church,  and  with 
a  strong  desire  to  go  onward  and  do 
good,  the  people  received  their  new 
minister  with  the  warmest  welcome. 
66 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

Very  soon  eleven  new  members  were 
added  to  the  church  ;  on  the  first 
Sunday  in  April,  1858,  twenty  more  ; 
on  the  30th  of  May,  ten  more. 
There  was  a  constant  ripple  of  re- 
vival in  the  best  and  most  living  in- 
terests of  the  congregation.  Things 
were  got  into  good  order,  a  Sunday- 
school  society  formed  to  take  care  of 
the  Sunday-school,  and  other  socie- 
ties as  they  were  needed  to  oversee 
other  interests,  and  everything  was 
bright  with  promise. 

But  the  tree  was  too  old  to  trans- 
plant. It  began  to  be  felt,  after  per- 
haps two  years,  that  there  was  dearth 
and  drought  in  the  movement,  that 
things  were  not  prosperous.  "  It  is 
rather  a  cold,  dull  time,"  he  says, 
sadly,  "  and  I  feel  at  times  greatly 
67 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

depressed,  almost  discouraged.  I 
seem  to  accomplish  nothing,  and  feel 
sometimes  that  I  am  not  fit  for  a 
minister;  and  if  I  could  do  it  with 
a  clear  conscience,  I  would  gladly 
return  to  the  plough.  I  know  I 
ought  to  brace  up  like  a  man  ;  but 
I  do  get  soul-heavy  sometimes,  and 
feel  like  saying  Die." 

It  was  not  long  after  this  that  a 
cannon-shot  struck  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  at  Fort  Sumter,  and  brought 
the  West  to  her  feet  in  a  mighty  pas- 
sion of  indignation  and  tears.  Then 
the  hymns  given  out  to  be  sung 
in  my  own  church  were,  "  When 
Israel  of  the  Lord  beloved,"  and 
"  My  country,  't  is  of  thee;  "  and  the 
text  for  the  sermon  was,  "Jesus  said, 
6S 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

'But  now  ...  he  that  hath  no  sword, 
let  him  sell  his  garment,  and  buy- 
one.'  "  And  the  anthem  was  "  The 
Star-Spangled  Banner,'*  and  the  altar- 
cloth  was  the  flag  that  the  true  man 
determined  to  defend.  The  appeal 
was  to  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 

In  July,  1 86 1,  Conant  was  com- 
missioned chaplain  of  the  19th  Illi- 
nois regiment,  under  the  command 
of  Colonel  Turchin.  On  the  2d  of 
August  he  writes  to  his  wife  from 
the  steamboat  "  Empress,"  off  Cape 
Girardeau,  how  he  is  rejoicing  in  the 
thought  that,  with  a  thousand  young 
men  for  his  parish  and  congregation 
he  may  be  able  to  do  quite  as  much 
for  the  moral  and  spiritual  elevation 
of  man  as  he  had  done  at  Rockford. 
"  If  it  is  best,"  he  continues,  "  that 
69 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

I  should  live  and  work  in  this  way 
for  a  few  years  until  the  war  is  over, 
I  shall  feel  secure  in  the  divine  pro- 
tection ;  but  if  it  is  the  will  of  God 
that  I  should  finish  my  course  in  the 
cause  of  freedom  and  humanity,  I 
hope,  dear  wife,  you  will  accept  that 
termination  to  my  life  as  the  best, 
trusting  in  the  wisdom  and  love  of 
our  Father." 

So  the  good  man  came  in  this 
spirit  to  the  last  work  he  was  to  do, 
as  cheerful,  hearty,  and  hopeful  as 
he  was  when  he  had  written  what 
bright  days  they  were  twenty-five 
years  before  at  his  wedding.  "  I 
am  well,"  he  says,  "  as  ever  I  was, 
sleep  soundly  on  the  soft  side  of  a 
plank,  and   ready  for  whatever  may 


come." 


70 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

His  home  letters  tell  the  story  of 
his  army  life. 

Sunday  Evening,  Sept.  28. 

You  know,  dearest,  how  down- 
spirited  I  have  usually  been  after  my 
day's  work  on  Sunday.  I  have  been 
thinking  over  my  experiences  this 
evening,  and,  strange  to  say,  for  the 
result  of  a  Sunday  evening  medita- 
tion, I  have  come  to  a  cheerful  con- 
clusion. I  do  not  think,  on  the 
whole,  that  I  am  much,  if  any,  more 
discontented  here  in  the  army  than  I 
sometimes  felt  in  Geneva  or  in 
Rockford.  Men  did  not  do  as  I 
wanted  to  have  them  there,  and  it  is 
the  same  here  ;  I  had  times  of  feeling 
that  I  was  laboring  in  vain,  and  I 
have  such  times  here.  But  really  I 
am  perhaps  doing  as  much  good 
as  ever  I  did,  or  as  ever  I  shall  do, 
and  gratitude  for  my  opportunities 
and  means  of  usefulness  is  quite  as 
befitting  as  grumbling  and  discontent 
71 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

with  my  condition  and  work.  I 
think,  on  the  whole,  that  I  have 
done  a  fair  day's  work,  and  that  I 
may  hope  for  God's  blessing  on  his 
word  of  truth.  The  men  seemed 
(when  I  preached  to-day)  attentive, 
interested,  and  grateful.  I  hope  the 
seed  sown  will  take  root  and  bear 
good  fruit.  I  should  be  glad  to  be 
with  you,  but  as  it  does  not  seem 
the  way  and  will  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, I  will  try  to  be  contented  and 
happy  where  I  am.  It  used  to 
trouble  me  that  my  salary  and  sup- 
port seemed  a  burden  to  my  people, 
but  this  trouble  while  I  am  here  is 
at  an  end.  My  pay  comes  without 
grudging  and  without  stint ;  it  is  a 
little  delayed  sometimes,  but  there  is 
no  fear  of  failure  in  the  end.  I  have 
rest  from  hard  study,  and  from  the 
task  of  writing  a  weekly  sermon 
whether  inspired  or  not  inspired 
with  a  word  of  truth  from  God  for 
humanity.  The  rest  is,  in  fact,  in 
72 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

excess,  and  I  would  like  a  little  com- 
munion with  my  library  ;  but  I  have 
rocks  and  trees  and  clouds  and  living 
men  to  read,  and  can  get  from  them 
precious  lessons,  if  I  am  an  attentive 
student.  It  does  seem  as  though 
with  all  these  things,  and  good  health 
and  good  rations,  a  man  ought  to  be 
happy,  and  might  enjoy  himself,  if 
he  had  a  mind  to.  I  suspect  having 
a  mind  to  is  the  chief  thing  in  the 
business.  I  mean  to  try  to  have  a 
mind  to  and  to  have  a  heart  to  enjoy 
the  good  gifts  of  the  bountiful  Pro- 
vider for  human  want  and  welfare. 
Then,  more  than  all  these,  I  have 
loved  and  loving  ones  at  home,  who, 
I  hope,  are  bravely  doing  their  duty 
in  this  hour  of  trial  and  peril  to  our 
nation.  I  can  talk  with  honest 
pride  of  my  sons  in  the  army  of 
freedom,  and  of  my  heroic  wife  and 
daughter  and  mother  at  home,  taking 
care  of  themselves  and  of  the  little 
one  who  bears  an  honored  name. 
73 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

Ah  !  in  having  such  home  treasures 
I  am  rich,  and  may  well  rejoice.  It 
will  not  seem  long  after  it  is  past, 
this  time  of  separation,  though  count- 
ing the  days  as  they  pass  one  by 
one,  with  no  tidings  from  home  for 
weeks,  it  does  seem  rather  long  and 
wearisome  and  lonely ;  but  we  will 
hope  that  the  future  has  ample 
amends  in  store  for  us. 

Elizabeth,  Ky.  Nov.  ad. 

I  suppose  you  think  of  us  in  the 
cold  November  rain,  camped  in  a 
tent,  as  in  a  very  miserable  condition. 
Let  me  describe  some  of  our  incon- 
veniences and  sufferings,  that  you 
may  know  just  how  to  pity  us.  Day 
before  yesterday  we  made  rather  a 
blazing  fire  in  our  tent,  and  our 
barrel-built  chimney  outside  took 
fire,  and  blazed  away  finely  for  a  few 
minutes ;  but  the  water-pail  afforded 
a  sufficient  fountain  and  the  dipper 
an  adequate  engine  for  extinguishing 

74 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

the  flames,  and  to  prevent  a  general 
conflagration  from  a  similar  accident 
in  the  future,  we  constructed  a  chim- 
ney yesterday  morning  of  turf,  and 
surmounted  that  with  the  barrels, 
obtaining  in  this  way  both  safety 
from  fire,  and  a  good  draught.  In 
the  afternoon  we  went  to  the  tin- 
shop  in  town,  and  got  a  piece  of 
sheet-iron  about  a  yard  square,  and 
had  a  hole  cut  in  the  middle  of  it, 
over  which  we  can  put  a  kettle  or 
frying-pan  for  cooking,  and  a  small 
hole  in  each  of  the  four  corners 
through  which  to  drive  pins  to  fasten 
it  in  place,  looking  about  so  fashion. 

This   we   placed   over    the 


trench  leading  into  our  chimney,  and 
behold,  we  have  a  cook-stove.  Fire- 
places in  tents  we  now  regard  as 
quite  out  of  fashion  ;  nothing  but  a 
stove  is  in  any  degree  decent  or  toler- 
able. Before  we  got  it  quite  done, 
it  began  to  rain,  but  we  had  a  good 
75 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

pile  of  wood  in  our  tent,  and  as  we 
sat  over  our  stove  dry  and  warm, 
while  the  storm  raged  without,  you 
can  perhaps  picture  in  imagination 
"  our  sufferings''  When  supper-time 
came,  we  stirred  up  some  Indian 
meal  with  an  egg  and  due  propor- 
tions of  soda,  tartaric  acid,  sugar,  salt, 
and  water,  and  putting  our  little  bake 
kettle  upon  the  stove,  we  put  in  it  a 
large  basin  containing  the  prepared 
materials,  and  covered  the  top  with 
coals,  and  in  a  few  minutes  after,  as 
we  lifted  the  cover  and  looked  in, 
behold  a  johnny-cake  light  as  a 
sponge,  and  done  to  perfection.  We 
had  syrup  made  from  melted  sugar, 
and  fresh  butter,  and  a  good  cup  of 
black  tea,  and  thus  wretchedly  pro- 
vided, and  with  a  keen  appetite,  you 
can  imagine  how  we  did  suffer. 
Then,  as  to  lodgings,  we  levelled  the 
pile  of  straw  under  the  blanket,  and 
placed  our  well-filled  straw  tick  upon 
it,  with   our  feet    toward   the  stove, 

76 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

and  a  load  of  blankets  and  overcoat, 
and  outside  of  all  an  india-rubber. 
After  our  usual  evening  worship  we 
crawled  into  as  warm  and  soft  a 
bed  as  if  at  home,  and  heard  the 
storm  roaring  without  and  the  rain 
driving  against  our  tent,  while  all  was 
dry  and  comfortable  within. 

Camp  Lincoln,  Elizabethtown,  Ky., 
November  i8. 

I  obtained  yesterday  the  use  of 
the  Baptist  meeting-house  in  Eliza- 
bethtown in  the  afternoon  for  our 
regiment  to  meet  in,  and  had  a  good 
many  citizens  besides.  It  happened 
that  I  had  a  sermon  on  the  war,  in 
which  I  expressed  my  views  pretty 
freely  on  the  way  it  had  been,  and 
the  way  it  ought  to  be,  conducted, 
particularly  on  the  confiscation  of 
the  slave  property  of  rebels  and  the 
emancipation  in  the  rebellious  States. 
It  happened,  also,  that  most  of  my 
audience,  except  our  regiment,  were 
77 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

slave-holders,  and  probably  a  ma- 
jority were  in  sympathy  with  seces- 
sion. For  once  in  their  lives  they 
had  an  opportunity  to  hear  a  little 
plain  preaching  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  and  I  had  an  opportunity  to 
preach  without  hindrance,  or  fear  of 
molestation,  to  slave-holders  in  a 
slave  State.  The  good  deacon  of 
the  church  and  his  wife,  who  are 
slave-holders,  but  Unionists,  were 
evidently  sore  alarmed,  and  a  good 
deal  troubled  about  the  effect  of  the 
sermon  on  their  secession  neighbors, 
but  I  hope  a  little  wholesome  truth 
will  do  them  no  lasting  injury. 

{To  his  Wife,) 

Camp  Jefferson,  Bacon  Creek,  Ky., 
January  i,  1862. 

One  of  the  pleasant  recollections 

that  came   to  me  this   morning  was 

the  circumstance  that  on  the  ist  of 

January,  1836,  I  wrote  a  letter  from 

78 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

the  Desplaine  River,  in  Illinois,  to 
Betsy  M.  Kelsey  in  Brandon,  Ver- 
mont. God  be  thanked  for  the  hap- 
piness of  that  day  and  year,  and  for 
all  the  Joy  of  which  it  was  the  prel- 
ude. How  much  of  domestic  en- 
joyment has  been  my  experience,  and 
hope  I  may  say  yours,  also,  in  these 
twenty-six  years  of  life  !  The  recol- 
lection is  just  occasion  of  gratitude 
and  fit  inspiration  of  a  still  purer  and 
deeper  love  for  each  other ;  and  yet 
our  love  has  at  no  time  seemed 
deficient  in  these  qualities.  God  be 
thanked  for  the  children  he  has  given 
us,  and  for  all  their  good  qualities, 
their  good  behavior,  their  worth,  and 
prospects  of  usefulness  and  happiness 
in  life.  Their  worth  and  welfare  is 
the  multiplication  of  our  enjoyments, 
and  we  have  occasion  of  gratitude 
that  they  are  doing  so  well. 


79 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

{To  his  Son.) 

Decatur,  Alabama, 
April  21. 

I  was  sorry  to  hear  of  the  death 
of  Colonel  Ellis,  at  Pittsburg  Land- 
ing. It  is  a  sad  experience  for  his 
wife  and  little  family.  How  many 
brave  men  have  fallen  in  this  struggle 
for  freedom  and  constitutional  law 
against  slavery  and  self-will  !  But 
we  have  reason  to  hope  that  by  this 
shedding  of  blood  our  nation  will 
obtain  redemption  from  the  sin  and 
curse  of  slavery  and  lawlessness,  and 
the  reward  be  greater  than  the  sacri- 
fice. If  it  should  be  my  fortune  to 
fall  a  victim,  I  know  you  would  all 
grieve  over  it ;  but  I  hope  you  would 
also  rejoice  that  I  laid  the  offering  of 
my  life  upon  the  altar  of  freedom 
and  humanity,  and  fell  for  so  good 
and  noble  a  cause.  Death  must 
come  to  us  all,  and  it  may  be  es- 
teemed fortunate  if  it  come  in  such  a 
80 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

way  as  greatly  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  mankind.  I  hope  to  live  and 
return  to  you  to  enjoy  long  the  re- 
sults of  a  successful  war  for  the 
maintenance  of  our  government,  and 
the  best  ideas  of  which  it  is  signifi- 
cant ;  but  if  I  should  not,  I  hope 
you  will  always  esteem  it  an  honor 
that,  in  God's  providence,  I  had  a 
place  among  the  hosts  of  martyrs  to 
freedom. 

{To  his  Wife,) 

Decatur,  Alabama, 

April  22,    1862. 

It  seems  as  though  the  chief  hard- 
ship and  suffering  has  not  fallen  to 
me  in  camp,  but  to  you  at  home. 
While  I  have  had  little  or  no  oppor- 
tunity for  the  exercise  of  heroic  vir- 
tues, you  have  had  severe  trials  of 
courage,  endurance,  self-sacrifice,  and 
won  laurels  quite  as  worthy  of  ambi- 
tion as  those  of  the  brave  defenders 
of  freedom.     It  is  not  the  place  or 

6  8t 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

circumstance  that  constitutes  essential 
greatness,  but  the  true,  noble,  brave 
spirit,  which  meets  and  masters  all. 
So  you  have  been  exhibiting  and  ac- 
quiring heroism  at  home ;  while  in 
the  camp  and  on  the  march,  I  have 
done  little  more  than  to  look  out  for 
my  own  comfort  and  welfare. 

{To  his  Wife.) 

Dec.   21,   1862. 

How  I  wish  I  could  be  with  you 
to  spend  Christmas  holidays,  but  it 
is  no  use  to  think  of  it  with  the 
enemy  so  near  and  a  battle  impend- 
ing. If  a  battle  should  be  fought, 
and  I  should  not  be  on  hand  to  care 
for  the  wounded  and  dying,  I  should 
feel  guilty.  I  am  busy  enough. 
When  I  can  do  no  more  for  the  sick, 
I  work  for  the  well.  One  man 
comes  to  me  with  a  new  axe  and  a 
handle  to  fit  in  it.  I  have  made  the 
colonel,  the  adjutant,  the  major,  and 

82 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

myself  each  a  writing-table,  beside 
ever  so  many  camp-stools  and  din- 
ner-tables. When  we  came  here,  I 
found  a  stand  and  camp-stool  among 
the  stuff  that  I  had  made  in  Nash- 
ville. I  supposed  some  one  had  put 
them  on  a  baggage-wagon  for  me, 
and  was  thankfully  carrying  them 
off,  but  a  colored  man  said  he  found 
them  and  carried  them  all  the  way 
from  Nashville,  six  miles,  on  his 
head,  so  I  allowed  his  claim ;  then 
he  divided  the  plunder,  giving  me 
the  stool.  I  feel  dreadfully  at  times, 
saddened,  sickened,  and  disgusted  at 
the  doings  of  war.  But  bad  as  it  is, 
the  injustice  and  oppression  perpe- 
trated for  ages  is  worse  ;  so  if  the  war 
be  needful  to  that  justice,  mercy,  and 
truth  which  is  the  kingdom  of  God, 
we  must  fight  till  his  kingdom  come. 

This  was  the  tenor  of  our  chap- 
lain's life  in  camp,  so  long  as  he  was 

S3 


e 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

spared  for  the  service  ;  sick  at  heart 
sometimes  at  the  things  he  saw  about 
him,  longing  to  get  home  again,  if  it 
were  only  for  a  day,  to  see  the  wife 
and  children,  and  especially  the  little 
child  he  had  never  seen,  that  was 
born  after  he  went  to  the  war,  and 
when  the  rest  of  his  children  had 
grown  to  be  men  and  women.  He 
never  did  see  that  little  one  in  this 
world  at  all ;  it  was  baptized  in  the 
room  where  he  lay  dead,  and  the 
vase  that  held  the  baptismal  water 
rested  on  his  coffin ;  and  then,  not 
long  after  that,  the  child  himself  was 
taken  by  the  angels  to  the  arms  of 
the  father  who  had  longed  so  to  see 
and  hold  him  on  this  earth. 


84 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

In  the  Hospital,  on  the  Battle-Field, 
Near  Murfreesborough,  Tenn., 
Jan.  2d,  1863. 

Dear  Wife,  —  We  have  been 
fighting  three  days  nearly  on  the 
same  ground,  and  the  battle  is  not 
yet  decided.  I  suppose  you  will 
hear  of  it,  and  feel  anxious  about  our 
safety.  I  write  to  say  that  I  am  yet  un- 
harmed, and  that  I  saw  our  dear  son, 
Neroy,  after  the  severest  of  the  fight, 
in  which  his  regiment  was  engaged 
the  day  before  yesterday,  about  noon, 
and  he  was  unhurt,  also,  though  he 
had  been  in  a  hot  battle,  and,  as 
Col.  Marsh  said,  "  had  fought  like  a 
tiger."  I  took  a  cup  of  tea  with 
him  while  the  storm  of  battle  was 
roaring  like  the  seven  thunders  ;  his 
regiment  had  been  so  badly  broken 
up  and  scattered  that  I  do  not  think 
they  were  again  brought  into  the 
hardest  of  the  fighting,  so  I  hope  he 
is  still  safe.  There  was  constant 
skirmishing,  and  our  hospital,  being 
85 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

in  rather  a  central  position  on  the 
battle-field,  was  a  good  deal  of  the 
time  between  the  two  fires.  Since  I 
began  writing,  our  skirmishers  have 
been  firing  at  the  rebels  ;  but  now 
they  have  fallen  back,  and  the  rebels 
are  about  the  hospital  firing  at  them. 
We  have  over  one  hundred  wounded 
men  in  the  house.  Federal  and  Con- 
federates together,  and  both  sides  try- 
not  to  hit  the  hospital.  I  worked  all 
night  till  four  o'clock  in  the  morning 
night  before  last,  bringing  in  the 
wounded  from  the  battle-field,  and 
while  the  ambulance  was  taking  a 
load,  I  generally  remained  out  in  the 
woods  or  fields,  building  fires  for  the 
comfort  of  the  poor  fellows  who  were 
waiting  to  be  taken  in,  and  also  hunt- 
ing them  up.  While  so  employed,  I 
was  made  a  prisoner  by  a  Confederate 
colonel,  and  my  ambulance  and  as- 
sistants were  also  captured  ;  but  we 
told  them  what  we  were  doing,  so, 
after  some  parley,  they  concluded  to 
86 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

let  us  all  go  and  keep  about  our  work. 
Just  now,  as  I  wrote,  the  rebels  were 
in  the  yard,  —  now,  again,  our  own 
men  are  here,  and  the  house  jars  and 
the  windows  rattle  with  the  discharge 
of  artillery  close  by  us.  We  are  sur- 
rounded with  a  wall  of  fire,  and  I  can 
hear  the  balls  sing  and  the  shells 
burst  as  I  write ;  but  our  work  of 
mercy  is  our  protection  ;  we  shall  be 
hit  only  by  accident.  I  need  not 
dwell  on  this.  I  have  often  been 
impatient  because  I  have  had  so  little 
to  do ;  but  the  opportunity  to  help 
those  in  need  on  this  battle-field  pays 
for  all  delays.  You  cannot  imagine 
how  much  I  have  enjoyed  for  the  last 
forty-eight  hours  in  helping  friend 
and  foe.  When  captured,  I  made 
some  of  the  Confederates  help  me  to 
bring  a  wounded  Ohio  soldier  to  a 
fire,  and  as  we  clasped  hands  beneath 
him,  I  told  him  we  would  take  one 
brotherly  gripe,  if  we  never  did  again. 
It  was  the  best  right  hand  of  fellow- 
87 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

ship  I  ever  gave  or  received.  Now 
I  must  hasten  to  my  duties,  and  will 
write  more  when  more  at  leisure,  the 
good  Lord  willing. 

Brigade  Hospital,  Battle-Field, 

Near  Murfreesborough,  Tenn., 
Jan.  5th,  1863. 

Dear  Wife,  —  The  storm  of  battle 
is  at  last  over,  and  I  have  the  happi- 
ness to  inform  you  that  Neroy  and 
myself  are  still  unharmed.  I  wrote 
you  the  day  before  yesterday,  while 
the  fight  was  going  on,  and  we  knew 
not  which  way  the  tide  of  battle  would 
turn.  Yesterday  afternoon  it  was 
found  that  the  Confederate  army  had 
returned  from  Murfreesborough,  and 
at  sunset  we  heard  the  distant  roar  of 
our  artillery  hurrying  up  their  flying 
footsteps.  I  went  to-night  toward 
that  part  of  the  field  where  the  19th 
Regiment  were  camped  to  learn  their 
condition,  then  returned  to  the  hos- 
pital by  way  of  the  camp  of  the  74th 
88 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

Illlnoisjand  saw  Neroy  safe  and  well. 
Since  I  wrote  you,  I  have  been  acting 
assistant  surgeon,  nurse,  and  messen- 
ger, and  have  felt  that  my  opportuni- 
ties of  helping  those  in  need  have 
richly  paid  for  all  the  delay  and  dis- 
content of  the  past.  I  think  I  must 
set  down  the  last  night  of  the  old 
year  and  the  morning  of  the  new, 
passed  in  the  woods  on  the  battle- 
field gathering  up  and  bringing  in 
the  wounded  men,  as  the  grandest 
and  happiest  night  of  my  life.  I 
wanted  to  stay  in  Nashville  and  work 
in  the  hospital  when  our  army  left 
there,  and  tried  to  get  a  situation, 
and  could  not ;  made  up  my  mind 
that  something  else  was  in  store  for 
me,  and  so  it  is  turned  out.  I  have 
been  permitted  to  do  more  and  better 
than  I  could  hope. 


89 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

{From  his  Son.) 

At  the  Hospital,  Battle-Field. 

Near  Murfreesborough,  Tenn. 
(No  date.) 

Dear  Mother,  —  Before  this  I 
suppose  you  have  received  father's 
letter  about  his  sickness,  and  are 
anxious  to  hear  from  him  ;  his  doc- 
tor says  that  he  thinks  he  is  doing 
very  well.  I  am  with  him,  and 
shall  stay  with  him  until  he  is  well ; 
he  has  a  good  place  and  as  good  care 
and  nursing  as  I  can  give  him.  The 
doctors  and  nurses  are  very  kind, 
and  all  try  to  do  what  they  can  for 
him.  His  disease  is  inflammation  of 
the  lungs,  caught  from  overwork 
during  the  battle.  I  saw  him  a 
number  of  times  as  the  battle  went 
on,  and  tried  to  persuade  him  not  to 
do  so  much  ;  but  he  said  he  could 
not  bear  to  see  wounded  soldiers  suf- 
fer when  he  could  help  them.  I  am 
very  thankful  that  I  am  where  I  can 
90 


AUGUSTUS     CONANT 

do  him  good  service.  He  seems  to 
feel  that  he  had  done  his  duty  faith- 
fully to  the  full  extent  of  his  power. 

In  Hospital  Jan.  28th  1863. 

Dear  Mother  and  Sister,  — 
Father  is  improving  slowly,  and  is 
able  to  sit  up  in  a  large  rocking-chair, 
bolstered  up  with  pillows  ;  this  posi- 
tion suits  him  better  than  any  other. 
I  have  a  little  currant  wine  that  I 
give  him,  which  seems  to  help  him 
quite  as  m.uch  as  medicine.  I  hope 
as  soon  as  he  is  able  to  travel  that  he 
can  get  a  furlough  and  come  home  ; 
they  are  sending  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers  home  on  furlough  now  ;  but 
you  must  not  set  your  heart  on  his 
coming,  because  he  does  not  much 
expect  to  get  a  furlough,  and  says 
that  by  the  time  he  is  well  enough 
to  go  home  he  will  be  fit  for  duty  ; 
but  that  I  doubt, 

P.  S.     I  have  one  wounded  Con- 
federate   in    my    ward ;    he    behaves 
91 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

himself  very  well,  and  has  just  as 
good  care  and  attention  as  any  of 
our  men.  He  would  have  frozen 
to  death,  but  for  father's  care,  on 
the  battle  field  ;  as  it  was,  he  froze 
his  feet  badly.  Father  built  him 
a  fire,  and  gave  him  two  or  three 
blankets  to  keep  him  warm  until 
he  had  time  to  come  and  fetch  him 
away. 

On  the  6th  he  still  seemed  a  little 
better,  but  had  a  feeling  that  he 
could  not  recover,  and  said  to  his  son 
Neroy,  his  loving  and  tender  nurse, 
"  I  shall  not  probably  live ;  but  I 
have  no  fear  of  death.  I  am  ready 
and  willing  to  go  at  any  time  God 
may  call  me,  and,  but  for  the  pain  of 
the  separation  from  you  and  the  dear 
ones  at  home,  I  should  have  no  wish 
to  live.  But  the  good  Father,  who 
92 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

watches  over  us  all,  will  care  for  and 
protect  you  when  I  am  gone." 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  yth,  he 
had  a  relapse,  though  without  appar- 
ent cause  and  he  sank  back  into  un- 
consciousness at  a  quarter  before  one 
o'clock,  "  and  having  served  his  gen- 
eration he  fell  on  sleep." 

"  Many  hearts,"  wrote  a  soldier  in 
the  hospital,  "  will  be  made  sad  when 
they  hear  that  our  chaplain  has  gone 
to  his  rest ;  many  a  fearless  soldier's 
eye  will  grow  wet  when  he  hears 
that  the  brave  and  noble  chaplain, 
who  dared  the  dangers  of  Stone 
River,  who  never  turned  aside  for 
bullet  or  shell,  but,  where  balls  flew 
thick  and  fast,  sought  out  the 
wounded,  and  administered  to  their 
wants,  is  dead.  Never,  while  I  live, 
93 


AUGUSTUS    CONANT 

can  I  forget  him,  as  I  saw  him  on 
the  field,  with  his  red  flag  suspended 
on  a  ramrod,  marching  fearlessly  to 
the  relief  of  the  suflFering;  appearing 
to  the  wounded  soldier  like  a  minis- 
tering angel.  I  can  never  forget  the 
night  of  the  31st  December,  when  he 
labored  all  the  long  night  seeking 
the  wounded.  I  can  hear  his  voice 
now,  loud  and  clear,  in  the  still  air, 
crying,  '  Any  wounded  here  that 
need  help  ?  *  And  so  he  labored  to 
the  end,  taking  no  rest.  When  we 
said,  '  Chaplain,  you  must  rest,  or 
you  will  die,'  he  always  replied,  '  I 
cannot  rest,  boys,  while  you  suffer ; 
if  I  die,  I  will  die  helping  you.'  " 


94 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

AUGUSlSrCONANT,  ILLINOIS  PIONEER  AND  PR 


3  0112  025405272 


